Friday, July 31, 2015

Brachiating

We're finding a great summer rhythm around here.  Lots of time being spent outside, just like everyone else in Chicago.  Camp is almost over- which might be a bummer, but Dave's parents are coming up next week, which will be a nice highlight.  I know Nico is looking forward to it.  


The newest accomplishment is the monkey bars.  He informed me that he wasnt swinging on the monkey bars, he was brachiating.  
Last week he had his first real judo session (the second was this week).  Like for real, with the push ups and the situps and everything. I am hoping to shoot some pics at the next one.  His judo pants are too small- so if there were any grand parents that wanted to get him a pair for his birthday or christmas, they would definitely be put to good use.  

This guy is getting so big.  I can't believe it sometimes.  Like the other day, I looked at him in the back seat and was sort of stunned at how big he has gotten.  We're starting first grade soon- which is crazy to me.  


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The One with Cousins

This weekend was really fun- Nicole and Emerson came from Texas. We definitely had a big weekend- trying to squeeze a lot in.
Nicole and Em got into Midway on Thursday.  Since the weather looked kinda crappy, we decided not to do all of the things until Friday.  In hindsight, this was a bad decision, because Friday was the hottest day of the year and all the things we wanted to do involved being outside and walking. A lot.

So Thursday night, we just hung out at the house and did some coloring.  Friday we got started pretty early, making our way to Maggie Daley park (a huge new park down by the Lake).  It is a pretty sweet park- but it's huge.  And the trees are still little- so there wasnt much shade to be had.  In fact, the slides are all made out of metal- which made them quite hot.  But the kids didn't seem to mind.  At all.  Check out this video of Nico coming in hot and losing control of his landing. To be fair- the slides were super fast and he wasnt the only one to wipe out on the landing!


After that, we walked by CloudGate (the Bean) on our way to grab lunch.

We made our way to Navy Pier so we could ride the Ferris Wheel.  The Ferris Wheel is kind of famous because it is apparently, the one in Ferris Bueller's Day off.  Also, it is going to be replaced soon.




Friday night was pretty chill at the house.  Nico and Em had a good time hanging out with each other and watching TV.  Saturday morning we went to a nearby Barnes and Noble, where Nico reminded me of all the things that he wants for his birthday.  We ended up with a new book about battleships and aircraft carriers.  It is pretty sweet.

Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Lisle for a Red Stars game.  Julie Johnston, Christen Press, Lori Chalupney, and Shannon Box (USWNT) play for the Red Stars.  Karina LeBlanc, Adriana Leon, and Melissa Tancredi all played for the Canadian National Team for this World Cup, which is cool.  Nicole got in touch with the facilities guy for Benedictine University (where the Red Stars play) and he let us on the track for pre-game.  We were standing there when the players walked by.  When Karina LeBlanc and Michelle Dalton (GKs for Red Stars) walked by, Michelle Dalton fist bumped Nico and Em- which was basically the highlight of the day.







The game ended in a tie and the kids were gems.  Nicole and Em left on Sunday.  Nico and I kinda moped around the house for the rest of the day.  

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

July 4th

We had a pretty fun July 4th.  Dave was covering a Cubs game and Nico and I had been invited to a party at my friend Kevin's house, on the south side.  Kevin is from Chicago and grew up on the south side of Chicago (a few minutes from the Indiana state line).  His family's thing is July 4th.

So I put together my mom's key lime pie (that I was totally afraid would be too sour- based on my tasting of the filling).  But it mellowed out with some time in the fridge. Also, beer helps.

We got down there and they had a lamb on a spit roasting over a fire.  Have you ever had roasted lamb on a spit?  It is amazing.  In fact, I gotta figure out a way to make that part of my life more regularly.  I met a lot of Kevin's friends that he grew up with, and got to hang out with his girlfriend Jen, who I adore.  There people are a lot like mine: fun-loving and trash-talking.

Nico had a group of kids to run around with.  Soon after, he was leading this little rabble around, attacking grownups and playing Volleyball.  It was so much fun.  So much so that I didn't get a pic of my own kid.  Oh, well.  But this pie doe.
Then, on Sunday, we watched the Womens World Cup final.  Which was awesome.

An interesting development has been in the way Nico announces his sports games.  He often uses women's players names... so he might be playing by himself narrating, "Nico squares it off to Henderson.  Henderson sends it on to Rapinoe, who has a shot, but it is deflected by Neymar.  Morgan with the cross and Wambach with the goal!!!!"  Which is pretty cool.  

Also, this weekend, he watched the entire USA v. France Group G game from the London 2012 Olympics.  During it, he said to me, "This game doesn't have the current coach coaching."  And when I asked who was coaching he said, "Pia."  As in Pia Sundhage.  And he is, apparently, on a first name basis with her. It was pretty funny.  

Monday, July 6, 2015

Summer is Here. Officially.

Not much going on around here.  I love not having to take Nico to be at school at 7:15.  It is quickly turning into my favorite part of summer.  My favorite part of summer.  Instead of doing that, guess what I do?  Sleep in.  Till 7am.  Till 7am.  That is practically the afternoon.  I am mostly focused on getting edits for Kelly's wedding photos done- there are so many.  So far, I have about 500 done- and I still have another 200 or 300 still to edit.

We're settling into a fun summer routine.  I ended up with a pretty extensive summer to do list... but it's hard because it is really easy to slip into letting Nico watch too much TV and too many videos on youtube.  I mean, I know he has intelligence to spare- but still.  I dont want his brain to completely rot out.

Last week we facetimed with both Granny/JJ and Nico's friend Wyatt (and his family).  Nico is convinced that we should visit Washington DC (where Wyatt's family is)- to see cool things like the Smithsonian and the Air and Space Museum.

It was pretty funny- because they pretty much took turns showing each other toys. 

I found a free online language learning site called Duolingo.  It is pretty amazing- as is Nico's ear for language.  We've started him on a german language course.  And he is kicking ass in it.  
   
We did have a summer fail last week.  One of our Summer to do list items was to figure out which is the best ice cream shop in the city.  So, last week, I came home from work a bit early and was ready after dinner to check out an icecream shop and Nico was like, "I don't want to."  I DONT WANT TO.  It's like he isn't even my kid.